immediately withdrawn. It belonged to the little nun. Ordinarily Ah Q had no fear of such as she, but in the present situation he decided it would pay to be careful. Hastily he pulled up four radishes and put them in the apron of his coat. In spite of his haste, the old nun was already on the scene.
"Amitofo! Ah Q, how could you have come to steal radishes from people like us? It is a great sin, a great sin, Amito Buddha!"
"When did I steal your radishes?" Ah Q said as he walked away.
"Are those not our radishes there?" the nun said pointing to his loot.
"Are they really yours? Then call to them and see if they'll answer you."
He darted off before he finished speaking, followed by a huge black dog, which had somehow turned up in the garden though its usual post was at the front gate. The dog growled and was almost near enough to snap at Ah Q's legs when a radish dropped and scared it. As the dog stopped to sniff at the radish Ah Q climbed up the mulberry tree, thence to the wall and rolled down, radishes and all, on the other side, leaving the dog barking up the empty tree and the old nun invoking the name of Buddha.
Still apprehensive of the dog, Ah Q hurried off with his radishes, picking up pieces of rocks and broken bricks as he went. But the dog did not follow him. Ah Q threw away his missiles and walked on, eating his radishes and thinking the while that he had better try his luck in the city as there was nothing for him in the village.
By the time he had finished the three radishes, his mind was made up.
